Andrew Strauss credited an aggressive approach for him helping England get their groove back with his 15th Test hundred against West Indies in the third Test on Sunday at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

The England captain hit 169 on the opening day of the hastily arranged Test to help make his side's 51 all out in the second innings of the opening Test which they lost by an innings and 23 runs seem like a distant memory.

"We've had a hard couple of weeks," Strauss told reporters.

"After being bowled out for 51 in the last Test, you want to come out and play positively and prove to everyone that as a batting unit we have a lot of good players. In that respect it's very satisfying.

"As a captain, it's always important to get runs and lead from the front, but I've felt in pretty good form all tour, so I knew that if I backed my game plan that runs would come."

Strauss struck 24 fours and one six, driving, cutting, and pulling with a confidence that many knowledgeable observers reckoned had been missing for a long time.

"There are two ways to come back from what happened last week," he said.

"One is to go into your shell and try and get runs, and the other is to take the bull by the horns and say, 'I'm going to get runs', and that's certainly the kind of mindset I had.

"Generally as a team, we were positive, but in a controlled way which is the right way to be."

But Strauss was fortunate that everything fell into place.

He lost the toss, and West Indies put England in to bat, expecting the pitch which was practically prepared in less than 48 hours, following the aborted second Test at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, to provide far more assistance.

Then, West Indies missed him twice. On 47, Gayle dropped him at slip off Sulieman Benn, and on 71, he edged between slip fielder Gayle and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin for his 10th boundary.

"I think they expected the pitch to do a lot more than it did, and when they realised it wasn't going to do much that subdued them a little," he said.

"I was very keen to field first when I came to the ground, but by the toss, it was a bit more 50-50. I probably would have done the same things, so it was a good toss to lose."

Strauss admitted that England may now have to reassess their plans, following their selection of Steve Harmison and Graeme Swann in place of Ryan Sidebottom and Monty Panesar.

"We thought there was going to be a bit more bounce in the pitch, which I still think there will be, and Harmy can still play a big part in this game," he said,

"But taking 20 wickets, that's going to be the challenge. If you hit the deck hard from back of a length, there is still bounce there, and we've just got to make sure we do that consistently.

"Hopefully, the pitch will deteriorate, but the key to all of this is to put them under scoreboard pressure then they are chasing the game from there on."

Andrew Flintoff grabbed a hat-trick to lead England to a 26-run victory over West Indies on Friday and a first ever one-day international series triumph in the Caribbean.
Flintoff claimed his hat-trick when he removed Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul and Sulieman Benn off successive balls in the 27th over, before finishing with career-best figures of five wickets for 19 runs from five overs.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle said on Thursday that his side has decided against strike action during the final one-day international against England in St Lucia on Friday.
Gayle said the West Indies Players' Association and the West Indies Cricket Board had come to an agreement that would allow the match to take place, but the two sides were still negotiating.

England could be left standing at the altar if the West Indies team carries out its threat to boycott the decisive fifth and final One-day International at the Beausejour Cricket Ground on Friday.
England still do not know if their opponents will show-up for the match, since there has been no clear indication from either the West Indies Cricket Board or the West Indies Players' Association about the status of their ongoing dispute.

Kevin Pietersen has said he remains fully committed to playing overseas for England despite making public his unhappiness at being separated from his wife, the singer Jessica Taylor.
The South Africa born batsman was much criticised after admitting in an interview last week that he was at the end of his tether.